Rocky Mountain National Park

For most of the summer of 2018 we were traveling at a rapid clip, staying only 3-4 days in most places, as we worked our way east to be in Pennsylvania in time for the Summerfest vegan conference held over the 4^th of July weekend. We planned our stays around National Parks and other places of interest to take advantage of our stops, and did our best to take in as much as we could in the time allotted. At the tail end of June we made our second visit to the Rocky Mountain National Park. We were here three years ago in July of 2015 for a short one-day visit, and agreed then we would return to see more of this gorgeous park.

This time around we set aside one full day to spend at the National Park, about 30-miles from the RV Park where we stayed in Loveland, Colorado. Driving into the park was going to take at least an hour, by the looks of the long line of cars waiting to get in, so we parked at the Visitors Center outside the main gate, and took off on foot. The day was sunny and warm, filled with blue skies, puffy white clouds, and gentle breezes. We took our time hiking up to a trail that led into the park, and across a beautiful meadow filled with brilliant wildflowers, colorful butterflies, chirping birds and busy bugs, interesting spiderwebs, and looming mountains with the last traces of winter snow still lingering. Surprisingly, we even came across cactus in bloom. Once again, I am reminded how lucky we are to have access to the wonder of our National Parks, and feel so fortunate that along the way this country made it a priority to preserve our natural environments.

Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area

After leaving Alpine, and still working our way through the month of June, our next stop was Green River, Wyoming. Only about 200 miles south and east of Alpine, it made for a short and pleasant travel day. The highlight of our stay in Green River was visiting the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. Located in the northeast corner of Utah and southwest corner of Wyoming, the area covers 207,363 acres of scenic landscape and wilderness. The recreation centerpiece, though, is the 91 miles long Flaming Gorge Reservoir, with the Green River and Flaming Gorge Dam coming in a close second. Made of spectacular red canyon walls and green forests, with the river carving blue ribbons throughout, this was one of the most spectacular example of natural beauty I’ve seen anywhere. It’s amazing what 3 billion years of mountain building, river carving, and basin formation can do! 

Grand Teton National Park

During our stay in Alpine, Wyoming, we set aside a day to visit the Grand Teton National Park. This was early June, and the mountains were still capped with snow, the temperatures brisk and cool. Grand Teton boasts an almost pristine ecosystem, and the same species of flora and fauna that have existed since prehistoric times can still be found there today. Only 10 miles south of Yellowstone National Park, these two areas, connected by surrounding national forests, constitute the almost 18,000,000 acre Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, one of the world’s largest intact mid-latitude temperate ecosystems. We saw only a smidgen of the 310,000 acres that make up the Grand Tetons, and walked only a minuscule portion of the 200 miles of trails that wind throughout, but we thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful blue skies, alpine lakes, fragrant forests, and patches of wild flowers, making us happy we made the time to stop.